My mother died half a year ago and shortly after her death our family experienced some curious events which I’ve written about. Since then my father’s home has been quiet. If mom lingered around home for a few days after her passing, it seemed she had passed beyond to her final rest. That the deceased remain for a short time after their passing is a widespread belief in many cultures and it appears there may be some truth to the idea.
However, my father recently told me an unsettling story. It was a Friday night and dad was asleep in his bed. Around midnight something stirred him. He heard voices. In his bedroom. Half asleep, half awake, he was alarmed thinking these voices were someone in his house.
In the dark of his room he listened. There were many voices but he could not make out any words. It was something like a murmur. They were not talking to him but to each other. And he recognized these voices. He heard mom’s voice. And the voice of his sister’s husband who had died a couple of years ago. He heard the voice of his long since past mother and father and deceased aunts and uncles.
I asked dad if he heard the voices of anybody living. No, he only heard the voices of the dead. As he fully awakened the voices faded away. Dad wondered about the meaning of this. It was eerie. Of course it could’ve been just a dream, but does anyone recall having a dream which was only audible and not visual?
Dad recognized these voices could have been a trick of the mind, recalling memories past. Yet, our subconscious is open to contact with other realities, maybe only in our mind or maybe not, perhaps making a connection with the realm of premonitions, revelations and contact with spirits.
I wonder what this means. I imagine my father is sensitive to this higher reality, which he seems to be. He had a few paranormal experiences in his lifetime, which is more then most people ever have. If the dead were talking, they were not in his room, for the chance of all his family being ghosts hanging around his bed is not possible. Instead, in his subconscious he may have traveled to where they were in the afterlife. He was there where they were, and not the other way around.
One thing I don’t want to consider is his dead family were calling to him, that they expect father to join them shortly. In that was the situation I’d much prefer this was simply a dream. I don’t like these omens.
Is it safe to build an airport runway over a cemetery? Not safe in terms of flight safety, but in terms of bad karma, bad mojo, and bad luck. Here in Chicago our O’Hare Airport has acquired a historic cemetery that was in the way of building a new runway. They will pave a new runway over it. The news article is below:
If you use a Google satellite map for St. Johannes Cemetery you will see this tiny cemetery surrounded by the vast O’Hare Airport. Soon it will vanish.
Here is a quote from the article:
“That heavy equipment should not be in that cemetery in the first place because that is consecrated ground,” Karaganis said. “The only people who know where area markers and the religious headstones are the members of the church. So we’re hoping the appellate court will cease the damage and religious sacrilege being done at St. Johannes.”
I can understand an airport not wanting a small patch of cemetery blocking their plans. However something about this strikes me as wrong. Call me superstitious, but removing the graves from consecrated ground sounds a lot like inviting trouble of the spiritual kind. Who knows if all the graves will be accounted for? The desecration of a cemetery may not seem like much of a concern. Yet, desecration has led to the haunting of cemeteries such as the infamous Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery. In Ireland and Iceland, roads have been diverted around a fairy mound or a sacred tree.
I don’t know if I’d want to be on the airplane that is taking off over a former cemetery. Sort of like whistling in a graveyard. Hopefully superstition is only superstition and all will be well. Regardless, let’s keep an eye on this particular new runway.
After the earthquake in Haiti many Haitians were forced to live outside. Among their challenges, many of the Haitians feared the lougarou, shape changing entities they believed roamed the night. Forced to live outdoors they needed to protect their children who slept vulnerable outside from the lougarou, Creole for ‘loup garou’, which is a French term for werewolf. Here is a quote from a story on NPR:
At night, the men stay up to keep watch on the camp. They look out for thieves and mythical, murderous creatures known in Creole as lougarou. - But their fear was so real. The folk tale is that these demons can change shapes — and that they kill children in the night. The lougarou have been part of Haitian mythology for ages, but the fear is greater now, perhaps because so many people are sleeping outside.
“Before sleeping at the night, I pray and I put my bible under the pillow of my children so that I can keep the lougarou, the fiends, away from them,” Joseph told me.
It is amazing that anybody in the 21st century would still believe in literal “werewolves”. The Haitian lougarou is not strictly a werewolf, but a shapeshifting fiend that can take many animal forms. According to the beliefs these fiends prey on children, making them ill if not stealing them away outright.
Human predators are not a superstition. The werewolf, the loup garou, could easily be a metaphor for human criminality. The legend of the werewolf describes spiritual evil of the human kind when a man can become nearly a beast.
It is not commonly recognized, but if we look at the Tarot we can see a werewolf in the cards. Yes, there are werewolves in the Tarot! Where are they?
The Moon Card
The werewolves are right there howling under the moon in the Moon Card of course. The Sun card and Moon card are twin cards that represent two sides of our psyche. The sun symbolizes our daylight conscious mind. Beneath the sun are two human twins. The moon symbolizes our nighttime subconscious mind with two canines, a dog and a wolf, baying at the moon. The twins and the wolves are the same beings representing two aspects of our psyche, the conscious and the subconscious. Man and wolf.
We are a combination of both the sun and moon; we need both. The sun alone is consciousness without intuition, without our connection to our inner self. The moon alone is a slave to our uncontrolled emotions, fears, and desires, resulting in unbalanced behavior. The tarot suggests we need a balance between the moon and the sun, our Ying and Yang.
I recall reading one of the defining differences between humans and apes is the intensity of our emotions. Apes are completely ruled by their emotions. Humanity is governed by our rational minds…most of the time. But beneath our intellect still exists our animal nature. Without balance it can emerge and we can become something like the wolfman.
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg slammed those who have an open mind about the reality of UFOs. In his column’s “opening shot” he wrote about those who deny global warming as being plain stupid. I agree. He ridicules those who see a snowstorm as proof that global warming is a fantasy. I’ve heard the same thing from global warming deniers. “Look at all that snow” the deniers say, ”Where is global warming?” Obviously the deniers don’t understand or ignore that the ice caps are melting, the true evidence of global warming. His article:
However, as an analogy, Mr. Steinberg compares those who ponder the reality of UFOs as having the same mentality as the global warming deniers. He dismissively pooh-poohs UFOs with this quote:
“But those other people. Jeez! The basics of physical reality elude them, and they form world views based on their patchwork misunderstandings. Every flash in the sky is a friendly UFO blinking out “Howdy” and the arguments against it being so — the vast tracts of space to be crossed, the enormous spans of time required — mean nothing to them. “
Well now! I don’t think Mr. Steinberg understands anything about the topic of UFOs. While there is inconclusive proof of UFOs, they remain a possibility. Outside of the mentally ill does ANYBODY look at EVERY flash in the sky as a UFO? That is setting up a straw man. The concept of extraterrestrials may or may not be reality, but the possibility exists. Outside of visitors from other worlds, there is also the possibility UFOs could represent spiritual entities, beings that have coexisted with mankind since we‘ve evolved. Mr. Steinberg’s dismissive view of Ufology is not much different then the attitude of the global warming deniers he criticizes…an opinion based on ignorance of the topic.
A better analogy would’ve been to compare the global warming deniers to those who believe in the literal reality of Noah’s Ark Perhaps half the American population accept this story as literal truth. If so, how did the kangaroo get to Noah’s Ark? It had to swim across an ocean. Then once on the continent it had to survive a trek across a landscape filled with hungry dinosaurs, since fundamentalists believe the dinosaurs lived before the flood. And why bother to return to Australia? Why not just settle down around Mount Ararat?
I like this conspiracy theory. Perhaps the true reason behind global warming denial is the intention to warm up the planet so the snow and ice on Mount Ararat will melt, revealing the location of the ark! The lack of logic fits, I suppose.
Accepting that the paranormal might have a basis in reality is not a sign of ignorance. There is a difference between denying science, and understanding that science does not have all the answers yet.
Update: Mr. Steinberg had an excellent article about religious tolerance. I agree with him 100% . Maybe he is not so terrible, regardless of his sour view of UFOs. Tolerance a virtue in my worldview
There was a story in the news about a cat living at a nursing home. This cat could sense when one of the residents was about to die and would snuggle up to the individual before their death. This cat’s predictions concerning who was going to pass away were so uncannily accurate the staff clearly understood its significance. The story is below:
This really is an amazing story. Does this cat have paranormal abilities? There have been many stories of animals displaying premonitions or who can seemingly read thoughts. Examples include pets that seem to know when their owner is about to return home, even at an irregular time. Animals have heightened senses of hearing, sight and smell, which we humans don’t share. Do our pets also have a heightened sixth sense as well? Has animal life evolved a psychic sensory system which humanity has mostly lost?
Animals were a focus of prehistoric man’s caves paintings, which were believed to be for spiritual purposes. Shamanism recognized power animals as spirit guides. Ancient Egyptian gods were animals or human/animal hybrids, like the cat god Bast or the raven-headed Ra or ibis-headed Thoth. Medieval Christianity believed pets could be familiar spirits, the devil’s imps in disguise.
Spellcaster with her cat
Today the concept of an animal familiar spirit is viewed differently. Many including pagans and Wiccans believe animals like cats have psychic abilities and are sensitive to the Invisible World. They can see what we cannot, including spirits. By developing a bond with their “familiar” the practitioner of the mystic arts can make use of the animal’s innate abilities for their advantage.
Cats seem to possess an extra sensitivity in this regard, which might explain why cats figure so largely in the legends of witchcraft. Can a cat see into the spirit world? It is said cats have the ability to see the dead. This cat which sensed when a nursing home resident was about to die shows this idea may not be just myth.
This story of the “death cat” also reveals something equally remarkable, the connection of the animal world with humanity in terms of an emotional connection. Why would a cat care if someone were about die? But this cat seemed to. The bond between human and their pets can be as deep as human relationships. On a spiritual level this suggests that animals are not merely walking robots, but beings with their own merit, with emotional and spiritual lives; that animals have souls.
During out-of-body near-death experiences individuals reported approaching a ‘tunnel of light’. At this gateway where they would leave behind physical existence, the near-dead often reported being greeted by their deceased loved ones waiting for them at this tunnel. And some said they were not only greeted by their dead family and friends, but also by their dead pets. This is a comforting thought for any of us who have lost a beloved pet.
Consider this passage from the Bible where Jesus said, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.” If God does not forget even a single sparrow, then all animals are as eternal as God’s memory.
I asked Arlene from the blog Winterspells.com if she would like to share any of her paranormal experiences with my blog. She offered a story below about her experience as a psychic healer. Her story is about psychic assault and is filled with interesting details. I heard stories concerning hostile entities and how these negative entities don’t seem to give up easily. Banishing astral nasties seems to require steadfastness over a period of time, and calling on a higher power, as defined by our belief system. It seems nearly every spiritual tradition recognizes some sort of “dark side” which can sometimes make unwelcome contact into our lives.
Here is her story:
In the mid 1990’s, I had a client Mr. D who bragged about coming from a famous, old Mafia family. But his braggadocio was only a front, for he was traumatized by a terrible childhood event. After years of constant nightmares, he finally had to deal with the deep seeded fears caused by his inability to move past the harrowing events of his childhood.
When Mr. D was five years old, his “Mafia Uncle” had a girlfriend that he often brought with him to Mr. D’s house. One day, Mr. D went downstairs to the recreation room and saw the girlfriend lying in a strange position on the pool table. Blood was dripping out of her mouth and pooling the floor beneath her. The Uncle saw Mr. D standing there, frozen in terror, and immediately threw him into a closet, locked the door, and threatened to kill him if he ever told anyone about what he had seen.
This story sounds dramatic and almost too clich?d to be true, but I work with what people give me. Even if this story sounds like the plot of a film noir, there is a reason the client created it, holds onto it, believes in it, and allows it to hamstring his life. Even as a metaphor, it has power over him, and it is my job, not to judge, but to break the power of the images, freeing the client’s energy, so he can move on with his life. And there is also the possibility that this incident actually did happen.
(For a clairvoyant, it is sometimes unclear whether an image is literally true or if it was created in the client’s mind. The power of obsessive thought forms can interfere with clairvoyant accuracy)
Mr. D and I had a particularly powerful energy healing session in which the (now deceased) Uncle’s spirit was jettisoned out of Mr. D’s energy fields. I thought he was sent to God’s light, but that night, I began to have violent and lurid nightmares. I never had dreams like that before. After decades of meditation practice, I have a pretty thorough knowledge of my own mind and subconscious, so I knew my psychic space was being invaded by a stranger’s emotions, ideas, and images. These dreams were not my material!
In all my years of healing work, this had never happened before. In a half sleepy state, I called on my guides to reveal to me who the intruder was, and was shocked when a small, slightly distorted caricature of a wiry, balding, middle aged Italian man, wearing a three-piece suit, popped up before my mind’s eye and began threatening me, raising his tiny fists, and screaming. I shouted at him to go! And, thinking that was all it took, went back to sleep.
I had the same violent nightmare for three more nights. During the day, I suffered panic attacks. I kept dropping things and was feeling very out of sync. I finally confided my problems to a friend who was open to these things. She told me to make some Holy Water and flick it around the house, read some psalms, and order the spirit to depart. I also created a Magic Circle and did a protection ritual, more assertively commanding my allies to take this spirit out of my space and send him to his next highest level of evolution. After doing all of that for another three days, the attacks ended. He was gone!
In the end, this was a fairly easy situation to deal with. In the future, I would deal with psychic attacks that were far worse.
Arlene has a report on psychic self defense at her blog. Check them out: http://www.winterspells.com
Winterspells: A Magical Life in Faery Witchcraft
The Supreme Court ruled that corporations have the same rights as living human beings when it comes to free speech. Therefore corporations should have no restrictions on spending money to influence the political process. The Court ruled that a piece of paper and those who control that paper (which is essentially what a corporation is) can spend unlimited corporate dollars on political advertising. To avoid bad PR, this funding can be disguised through front groups.
In my opinion, this is a disaster for democracy. Big Business already has overwhelming power with its lobbying. Now it can spend to directly influence voters, promoting its narrow interests. When it comes to American voters, an interested party does not need to persuade 50% of the population, only about 5-10%, the usual margin of victory. Access to unlimited advertising resources can decide nearly any election at will.
This could be the end of a working democracy in America. It is not hard to manipulate and frighten Americans to act against their own self interest. When true democracy fails who will be in charge? We will have the new Illuminati…invisible individuals pulling the strings, answerable to no one.
Conspiracy theorists like to imagine the Illuminati is secretly in control of the world. Because of the Supreme Court ruling we will soon have a true, reborn Illuminati governing events. Corporations (domestic and foreign) will now freely, secretly collude, pool their resources and choose our leadership. The Supreme Court gave our new Illuminati the keys to near dictatorial power. And we won’t know who they are! Politicians will be subservient slaves to this international corporate Illuminati.
With global big business controlling elections and thereby government, we will enter a period of government by oligarchy, where CEOs, billionaires and foreigners (under front corporations) decide policy. Who will stop them? Politicians? The voters? They haven’t yet.
This happened recently. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian billionaires became oligarchs. Russian president Vladimir Putin finally put an end to the oligarchs with strong arm tactics, and put the Russian government firmly back in control. In the future America may need to do the same. America will need a political strong arm, our own Putin, to replace the neo-illuminati.
It appears the famous Poe Toaster has given up his yearly visit to the original grave marker of Edgar Allen Poe. Every January 19 for six decades the Poe Toaster visited the grave in the dark of night to leave three roses and half a bottle of cognac. Below is one of many new stories concerning this:
After the holidays of December I always looked forward to January 19, the birthday of Poe, and reports of the Toaster’s annual pilgrimage to Poe’s grave. It seemed like an unofficial holiday for fans of the macabre. It added a bit of mystery and intrigue to the cheerless month of January. Who was the Poe Toaster?
Nobody knows. We can only make a few guesses about the Toaster’s motivations. The Toaster visited the grave of Poe from at least 1949 if not earlier. That was a lifetime of paying respects to Poe, a steadfast accomplishment. This was not done to gain attention, but a unique way to honor an author who at did not get the recognition he deserved in his lifetime. Did the Toaster realize this simple act of appreciation would eventually remind the world to remember Poe every year on his birthday? It did exactly that.
It is suggested the three roses left at the grave are for Poe, his wife and mother-in-law who were also buried there. As for the half bottle of cognac, what does that mean? Poe died from drinking at 40. Cognac is an ironic but strangely meaningful gift for Poe.
I had a good friend pass away from cancer a decade ago. My friend had his own problems with drinking, which he usually (not always) had under control, thanks to his wife who would give him endless grief if he veered off the rails. Yet he and I shared good times over some Goldschlager.
When my friend died he was cremated and his ashes scattered. I don’t have a place to visit to offer my respects; I wish I did. If I did, I could see myself leaving a miniature bottle of Goldschlager at his grave along with flowers as a personal gesture. I know he would have appreciated it. Perhaps the Poe Toaster was thinking the same thing, that Poe’s downfall was also his passion.
Why has the Toaster stopped this tradition? Eventually the Poe Toaster’s act of respect gradually turned into a media circus. A note said that the original Poe Toaster had passed away in 1998 and handed the task to his son. In the era of reality TV and celebrity wannabes doing anything to get on television, I really respect that father and son wanted to maintain their privacy. It seems the 200th anniversary of Poe may be the last visit by the Toaster. I don’t blame the son for not wanting the hassle anymore.
The Poe Toaster is now part of the story of Edgar Allen Poe. Will we ever see the Toaster again? I think others will take his place who have no relationship to the original. Wannabe toasters, pretend toasters. Maybe next year we’ll see three of four new Poe toasters trying to leave flowers and cognac. Is that a bad thing? Others can be inspired by the Toaster’s example.
I want to thank the Poe Toaster for bringing some light into the world every January 19. I raise a class of cognac and toast the Toaster. If I knew where he was buried, I would visit to leave a rose and perhaps a bottle of cognac as well. Salute!
On January 12 we had one of the most horrendous earthquakes of our time, the earthquake in Haiti. Watching the new coverage, I felt helpless as the poor people of Haiti were struggling for survival.
Then on January 15 there was news about an annular eclipse that passed through Africa and Asia, appearing as a ring of fire in the sky.
Nostradamus often used celestial omens like comets as guideposts to identify his predictions. Since this widely visible eclipse immediately followed the Haiti earthquake disaster, I revisited Nostradamus’ quatrains. Did he have any predictions concerning an eclipse and an earthquake?
He did have a prediction concerning an eclipse below:
Century 3, Quatrain 34
When the eclipse of the Sun will then be,
The monster (omen) will be seen in full day:
Quite otherwise will one interpret it,
High price unguarded: none will have foreseen it.
Could this prediction have anything to do with foretelling the Haiti earthquake? The first line of Century 3, quatrain 34 mentions an eclipse.
The second line mentions a monster that will be seen in full day. The term “monster” was usually a term representing an omen of disaster. In Nostradamus’ day, if an animal was born with two heads, or a child was born with unusual abnormalities, these were considered bad omens, monsters. Yes, superstition, but that was what people back then thought. Comets were also considered to be fearful monsters, omens of fate. Perhaps the eclipse, which looked like a great fiery ring in the sky, was the monster/omen.
The third line, “Quite otherwise will one interpret it” is vague. Perhaps because the eclipse came after the earthquake and not right before it, nobody viewed the eclipse as an omen. Imagine what people would’ve said if the eclipse came first followed by the earthquake a few days later. Then people might widely view it as a bad omen.
Also, this eclipse was visible through the center of Africa. The eclipse began in Africa, passing through Chad, Congo, Uganda, Kenya and Somalia before crossing the Indian Ocean and reaching Asia. A curious coincidence was that the African region where the eclipse was visible was long ago also victimized by the colonial slave trade. Watching the eclipse in the sky January 15 were relatives of those taken into slavery to the New World, including Haiti, centuries ago.
2010 eclipse path and the slave trade paths
The last line “High price unguarded: none will have foreseen it” may refer to the earthquake. There is a terribly tragic, high price being paid by Haiti. Haiti was ill prepared (unguarded) for an earthquake. Their economic and political resources were ill equipped to handle this disaster. Because of Haiti’s poverty they did not have the building standards or emergency equipment to mitigate the effects of the earthquake.
I don’t know if this prediction of Nostradamus concerns the tragedy in Haiti. We can read too much into these, but it does make me wonder. I hope the world can help Haiti in this time of need.
Televangelist Pat Robertson suggested that the horrendous earthquake in Haiti is God’s punishment on Haiti due to a pact with the devil.
Here is what Robertson said:
“You know … something happened a long time ago in Haiti. They got together and swore a pact to the Devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you get us free from the French.’ True story. And so, the Devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal.’ And they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after another. That island of Hispaniola is one island. It’s cut down the middle. On the one side is Haiti; on the other side is the Dominican Republican. Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island.”
Supposedly this has something do to with Voodoo in Haiti and legends about Voodoo’s involvement in their revolution against the French. Did thousands of children die in a God willed earthquake because of Voodoo??
Voodoo was introduced to the New World from African slaves. When Haiti was discovered, colonists built sugar and coffee plantations. To work these plantations the colonists used many slaves. Voodoo was a slave’s religion, brought from Africa and practiced in secret after they were forced to convert to Christianity. God-fearing, Bible-believing Christian slave owners were responsible for bringing Voodoo to Haiti with their slave trade, not the Haitians.
Is a Christian legacy of slavery not as serious in God’s eyes as a legacy of Voodoo? Who really deserved that earthquake?
If we look at the behavior of some televangelists, it sure looks like they are practicing the occult to me. Is there much difference between a Vodou hougan and a Holy Spirit preacher? They both have Words Of Knowledge predicting the future. They channel God directly, speaking with Him and revealing His word. They claim to heal the sick. Is that really far removed from Voodoo? Is there a difference between channeling Voodoo’s Loa or the Holy Spirit to perform “miracles”?
My mother died half a year ago and shortly after her death our family experienced some curious events which I’ve written about. Since then my father’s home has been quiet. If mom lingered around home for a few days after her passing, it seemed she had passed beyond to her final rest. That the deceased remain for a short time after their passing is a widespread belief in many cultures and it appears there may be some truth to the idea.
There was a story in the news about a cat living at a nursing home. This cat could sense when one of the residents was about to die and would snuggle up to the individual before their death. This cat’s predictions concerning who was going to pass away were so uncannily accurate the staff clearly understood its significance. The story is below:
In the mid 1990’s, I had a client Mr. D who bragged about coming from a famous, old Mafia family. But his braggadocio was only a front, for he was traumatized by a terrible childhood event. After years of constant nightmares, he finally had to deal with the deep seeded fears caused by his inability to move past the harrowing events of his childhood.
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